Christmas Flower Ideas

Christmas is my favorite season.  I love the decorations, the lights, the music, the smell. As soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is made into leftovers I am pulling out our Christmas decorations and hopefully inspiring the same love of the Christmas season in my 4 year old daughter. Since we don’t have a fireplace she thinks Santa comes to the door and says “ding dong” to bring her presents!

Fresh flowers and plants make the holidays even brighter. Oregon is blessed to have a wide variety of fresh holiday greenery that bring the wonderful smell of Christmas to life. These days we meet requests for holiday flowers for everything from traditional centerpieces to fun and modern arrangements. Don’t hesitate to try something different this year! Here’s a little inspiration to get you started…

Christmas Colors Inspire Me

I love the holiday season, but this year is especially spectacular. Not only did it snow this weekend, but the temperature in Eugene has stayed cold enough to keep it looking like a winter wonderland! A week into December, and with the lovely evergreens surrounding Eugene laden with the white, fluffy precipitation; the streets and rooftops snow-covered, the season has announced itself: Christmas is here!

This year, along with my usual reasons for loving the season – putting a tree up and dressing it up for the season; the festive decorations and lights around town; holiday shopping and wrapping (or bagging) gifts; anticipating fun family get-togethers; watching people go by all bundled up against the cold; Christmas music – I get to add a couple of  new ones to my list: the scrunch of footsteps in the snow; snow blowing off branches and swirling in the breeze against a blue winter sky. But I always come back to an old favorite: the red, white and green flowers we work with in the store. When the snow-tinted pine cones and Christmas greenery come out at work, it’s easy to get inspired, so I thought I’d give you a glimpse of some red, white and green floral inspiration at Dandelions:

Green and white kale adds fantastic texture to any arrangement you add it to.

The big, beautiful and exotic blooms of cymbidium orchids with their deep red throats are a great attention-grabber.

Deep red ranunculus, with its lovely, ruffly petals.

I never get tired of the wild allure of bells of Ireland. Their height is perfect for a showy, seasonal design.

Red dogwood is also great for height in an arrangement. It’s woodsy red tint is perfect for the season.

Red poinsettias are a Christmas icon! Their bold beauty add festivity to anyone’s holiday decor.

Exotic, bright red anthuriums, if you’re looking for something different, and dramatic!

Wintery-white fuji mums!

White poinsettias! Another winter holiday beauty!

I love the elegance that white dendrobium orchids bring to an arrangement.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Tips for Getting your Centerpiece to Last

The first thing you should know about your floral centerpiece is that the cut stems are inserted into a floral foam, also known as oasis. Oasis is great because it retains water well and helps the arrangement hold it’s design. Flowers in foam can stay vibrant and beautiful for days, but they need care. The downside to oasis is that where you can see the water level in a vase, in floral foam the water level is not as obvious. Because of this, many a centerpiece dehydrates and dies earlier than it should. So it is important to make sure your floral arrangement has plenty of water.

How to check the water level: Touch the oasis. If you press it lightly you should feel moisture.

When to water: Because it’s cold outside, and we’re all keeping our homes warmer, the water from the floral foam is going to evaporate faster, so you should check the moisture level every day.

How to water: Move your centerpiece to the sink, or to a surface that won’t be damaged by water, in case you spill. Carefully find a space in the centerpiece, or at the side of the container it is in, where you can see the oasis, or a space between the oasis and the container, and carefully pour water onto the oasis or into the space around the foam, allowing time for  the water to be absorbed.  Slowly add water until the oasis is thoroughly saturated.

Enjoy your flowers, and this wonderful season!!

                                 

Poinsettia and Wreath Sale

In addition to our Christmas Sale Items, all poinsettias and holiday wreaths are on sale, too! All of the wreaths are $10 off while supplies last and the poinsettias range from $5-$10 off. Order fast because these won’t last long at this price! Offer valid on Eugene/Springfield delivery only. To view all of our Christmas options, click here.

Originally $49.99
ON SALE FOR $39.99

Medium Poinsettia Was $29.99
ON SALE FOR $24.99

Large Poinsettia Planter Basket
Was $74.99
ON SALE FOR $64.99

Go DUCKS Wreath
perfect for your Fiesta Bowl Party
Was $49.99
ON SALE FOR $39.99

Holiday Wreath
Was $39.99
ON SALE FOR JUST $29.99

Large Christmas Poinsettia
Was $59.99
ON SALE FOR $49.99

Modern Christmas Fresh Floral Designs

Having fresh flowers during the Christmas season is a wonderful tradition that makes the home feel extra festive. Whether you are buying them for yourself (highly recommended) or as a gift for someone else, here are some of my favorite holiday arrangements.

   

Christmas Centerpiece Workshop

Our sample centerpiece

Centerpiece ClassOn November 30th, we held a DIY Holiday Centerpiece class at the store, and boy what a great success it was! We had so much fun sharing our passion of designing floral arrangements and are so impressed with all of talented DIY designers! They were all so creative, filled with ribbons, ornaments, snow covered pine cones and more. It was truly a night of holiday cheer! For some Christmas centerpiece inspiration visit my other posts on  traditional centerpieces or modern centerpieces.

Here are some tips from our expert instructors Julianne and Jodie:

– get all of your supplies set out before you start (this goes for any project…it just makes it so much easier)

You can easily see here how the floral foam sits well above the lip of the container

– make sure your floral foam sits at least 1″ above the lip of your container

– Remove foliage from your stems where it will be inserted into foam (about 2″ since stems need deep insertions to ensure they draw up water and stay secure)

– Recut your stems before insertion

– Use your longest greenery stems at the ends of your centerpiece to create your base. Then make sure none of your other stems are longer than these base pieces.

– Create texture and depth to your centerpiece by alternating the angle of your insertions

– Keep your sides narrow. It’s easy to make centerpieces too full- long and narrow is often best for the size we demonstrated. Other styles of centerpeices are round but you don’t want greenery draping onto your guests’ plates!

One of the participants did a great job with their centerpiece keeping the sides narrow- and beautifully decorated

– Once your greenery is in, have fun with your decorations: ribbons, christmas balls, ornaments, pinecones or whatever suits your interest. We like to use wood picks to help secure items like Christmas balls & pinecones (glue onto pinecones or twist wire onto Christmas ball/ornament tops)

Adding artificial snow to greener can help add texture and a fun, wintery feel

Here is some video that we took during the class. This shows some of the wonderful centerpieces being made. This is not an instructional video but gives you a feel for the class.

History of the Candy Cane

In the 1920’s, Bob McCormack of Bobs Candy began making candy canes as special Christmas treats for his family, friends and local shopkeepers in Albany, Georgia. It was a labor intensive process as the shaping and bending of the candy canes had to be done by hand so production was limited.

In the 1950’s Bob’s brother-in-law, Gregory Keller, a Catholic priest, invented a machine that automated the process and could make hundreds of candy canes at a time. The next generation of McCormacks developed packaging innovations that made it possible to ship the delicate candy and the popularity of the holiday treat grew worldwide.

Candy canes are a popular addition to a variety of Christmas and holiday flower arrangements as a complement to the traditional red and white flowers.  Sending candy canes in a flower bouquet gives the recipient a tasty extra treat in addition to the cheer of recieving flowers.  Many other types of candy can be included in flower arrangements including Euphoria truffles, Lindor chocolates and many other specialty candies.  These can be a great choice for male flower recipients.

To help celebrate the history of the Candy Cane, we are featuring a yearly bestseller, the FTD Candy Cane arrangement. This festive Christmas flower arrangement and many others are available at our website www.dandelionsflowers.com.